


Easier Than Breathing

by peaceoutofthepieces



Series: Skam Bingo 2020 [3]
Category: SKAM (Netherlands), WTFock | Skam (Belgium)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Meeting the Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24114412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peaceoutofthepieces/pseuds/peaceoutofthepieces
Summary: Lucas huffs, the warm puff of air brushing Jens’s collarbone. “I just want her to like you. I want you to likeher. I want my two favourite people to like each other.”“Aww, I’m one of your favourite people?”Lucas pinches his side. “My favourite person.”“Sander will be so disappointed.”
Relationships: Jens Stoffels/Lucas van der Heijden
Series: Skam Bingo 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1729147
Comments: 1
Kudos: 51





	Easier Than Breathing

Jens really shouldn’t be nervous. He has no reason to be. Or at least, that’s what he keeps telling himself. That’s what _Lucas_ keeps telling him, even as he’s wiping sweaty palms on his jeans when he thinks Jens isn’t looking. He supposes, though, that Lucas has more reason to be nervous. Jens was a wreck when it was his turn, but he hadn’t told Lucas that. And, things went well. Jens’s parents love his boyfriend, and Lotte’s his biggest fan. They’ve already had good experience with this. Jens shouldn’t be nervous. 

But this feels like a very different situation. This is a much bigger test. 

“I already told her about you,” Lucas points out, for the seventh time in ten minutes. “It’s not like we’re just dumping it on her. She’s making lunch for us. It’s fine.”

“Unless she hates me.”

Lucas turns to him abruptly, expression incredulous. He rolls his eyes and cups Jens’s face in his hands, smushing his cheeks and kissing the exaggerated pucker of his lips. “No one could hate you, dumbass.”

Jens is smiling even before Lucas lets him regain control of his face, dropping his hands to catch Jens’s own. “Thanks, that’s very reassuring.”

“Good, it was supposed to be.” Lucas starts walking again, pulling Jens along with him, but after another few anxious breaths Jens tugs him to another halt. 

“Hey,” he says, soft, coaxing. He waits until Lucas is looking at him to continue. “It’s gonna be fine. Your mom’s in a good place, yeah? And she’s prepared for this. She loves you. Even if she doesn’t like me, that won’t change.”

Lucas blows out a sigh and lets Jens haul him into a hug. He drops his head on Jens’s shoulder and sets his hands on his waist, fingers curling in the sides of his jacket. “I know. It’s just. She only came out of an episode a few days ago. She’s just starting to move around again. I’m worried I asked for too much too soon.”

“She was the one who suggested it though, right? She’s a grown up. She knows what she can handle, Luc. You’re allowed to want something from her. Especially something like this. And besides,” Jens takes on a lighter tone. “It’s not like we’ll stress her out. I’m very chill.”

Lucas huffs, the warm puff of air brushing Jens’s collarbone. “I just want her to like you. I want you to like _her_. I want my two favourite people to like each other.”

“Aww, I’m one of your favourite people?”

Lucas pinches his side. “My favourite person.”

“Sander will be so disappointed.”

Lucas’s laugh makes Jens’s heart flutter. This is the Lucas he likes to see. Smiling and teasing, the goofy side of him that matches Jens perfectly. “Well, Sander wouldn’t pretend I take first place over Robbe, so I won’t either. He’s joint fourth with his boyfriend and Jayden.”

“That’s an interesting trio. Let me guess, Kes is above them?”

Lucas lifts his head but doesn’t move away, shrugging under the weight of Jens’s hands. “Kes is probably actually second. He was there when Mom couldn’t be.”

“So really, your two favourite people already get along. Which means you can chill. Okay?” Jens plants a quick kiss on his forehead, watching his eyes flutter as he smiles. 

“Okay,” he sighs. “Let’s get it over with.”

Jens has been at Lucas’s house a few times. During the last stint where his mom was at the clinic, he’d spent most of his time there. Other times, when he’d come up on the weekends, Lucas would meet him at the station only to ditch him a few houses away and sneak him in through his window. He’d never been allowed to come on the weekends his dad was supposed to make an appearance, even when Lucas was sure he wouldn’t actually show up. He’d never been allowed to meet his mom, because none of them were ready. Lucas needed to tell her at his own pace, make that decision in his own time, and Jens respected that.

He would’ve even respected it if it had taken, say, another month or so. He isn’t pushy. He’s patient. He wouldn’t mind waiting. 

But, he supposes it may also be a good idea to get it over with.

Lucas squeezes Jens’s hand tightly before opening the door. He hangs his coat up in the hallway and toes off his shoes. Jens follows suit as Lucas glances down the hallway, calling out, “Mama?”

A sweet, quiet voice calls back, “In the kitchen.”

Lucas gives Jens a look as if to ask, ‘Are you ready?’ Jens gestures for him to lead the way. 

In the kitchen there’s a small blonde woman, a couple inches shorter than Lucas and just as thin. She greets them with brilliant blue eyes and a bright smile, and Lucas’s shoulders seem to lose some of their tension. Jens hovers at Lucas’s shoulder, doing his best to give his easy smile. It’s difficult, considering he feels anything but. He told Lucas he’d be chill, he reminds himself. He just needs to chill. 

Lucas steps forward to give her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. Then he’s saying, “This is Jens,” and Jens has to subtly wipe his sweaty palms on his jeans before offering a hand. 

The woman smiles at him and takes it, uses it to pull him forward into a short, gentle hug. Jens sinks into it for the brief time he can, feeling a thrum of relief race through him. He supposes this is a rather good start, as is the smile on her face when she leaves her hands on his shoulders and says, “It’s lovely to meet you, Jens.”

“You too, Mrs Van Der Heijden.” His smile feels much easier, now, and Lucas seems similarly relieved, smiling at Jens over the woman’s shoulder. 

“Please, Jens, call me Julia.” Her smile widens for a moment as she gives his shoulder a squeeze before turning back to her cooking. “I’m sorry to not be able to greet you better, but I don’t think burnt croques for lunch will be the best first impression. You can slip away for another ten minutes if you’d like.”

Lucas shoots a questioning look at Jens. Jens shrugs and nods at the table. “We can just wait,” Lucas says. “Unless we’re distracting you?”

“No, not at all, I’ll be happy to have the company. Jens can start telling me about himself and how he met you.”

“I’ve already told you that,” Lucas points out as he and Jens take a seat at the table. 

She hums. “But it’d be nice to hear Jens’s side of it too, no?”

Jens shrugs. “It is the most interesting thing I could tell you about. Not much else.”

“That’s not true,” Lucas argues. “You could always tell her about your YouTube channel.”

Jens gives him a look as Julia looks over her shoulder at them. “Do you make YouTube videos?”

“It’s just stupid things my friends and I do. Challenges and pranking each other and things like that. He’s only bringing it up because he knows it embarrasses me.” Jens gives Lucas a pointed look. 

Lucas grins and doesn’t deny a thing. 

Julia offers him a smile. “I’m sure they’re wonderful. There are worse things you could be up to.”

Lucas flicks his brows up at Jens and smirks. 

Lunch goes surprisingly well. Jens isn’t sure what he’d expected, but the way Lucas had been describing his mother’s state over the past few days wasn’t entirely comforting. But she interacts with them easily, holding an almost constant stream of light conversation with Jens, asking him about school, his friends, his own family, Lucas. Lucas keeps his ankle hooked with Jens’s under the table and it keeps him relaxed. 

It’s when Lucas’s phone starts ringing that some of Jens’s anxiety returns. 

He can tell who it is from Lucas’s reaction, the way his shoulders tense and he bites the inside of his cheek. He declines the call and sets his phone on the table. He props his elbows on the table and chin in his fists and gives them an easy smile. Jens reaches out and sets a hand on his arm, squeezing briefly, and Lucas’s phone buzzes. He lets out a breath through his nose and doesn’t look at it. 

Julia says, “You should talk to him, Luc.”

Lucas flops back into his chair and Jens’s hand falls onto the table. “Why should I? I don’t owe him anything.”

“No, you don’t,” she agrees gently, “but he doesn’t call very often. When he does reach out, it’s nice to return the effort. Speaking to him won’t do any harm.”

Lucas looks like he disagrees. “What does he even want?”

“You won’t know that until you talk to him.”

Lucas’s phone starts ringing again.

“Take it,” Jens encourages. Lucas looks over at him. “Even just so he stops. It doesn’t have to be a long call. Two minutes.”

Julia nods her agreement. Lucas considers. “Two minutes.” He picks up the phone and answers it as he stands, heading out to the hallway and muttering a, “Hi.”

Jens looks at the door where Lucas had disappeared and starts at the touch on his arm. He turns back to Julia, who gives him a soft smile. Jens returns it somewhat awkwardly and asks, “Does he ignore him a lot?”

Julia sighs and gives a small shrug. “It’s always been a little strained between them. It’s awful, because Lucas used to adore him when he was young. I know he has every right to be mad at him, but it’s nice to think he can still have a relationship with his father. I don’t want to take that away from him.”

“It’s not your fault,” Jens shakes his head. “You weren’t the one that left.”

Her smile this time is sad. “I’ve left him a few times, too.”

“Yeah, but you do it so you can come back to him. He understands that.” While he knows Lucas does understand that, he also knows it’s done it’s own damage. He’s seen it. He’s seen Lucas angry at his father and his mother and the world and himself. He’s seen Lucas go to a place even he can’t reach when his mother has another episode, when she has to go to the clinic, even if it’s only for a night. But he’s also seen the love in Lucas’s expression when he talks to and about the woman, the tenderness that leaks into his voice and into his eyes, softening him into someone Jens bets only he and Julia have seen.

Julia seems surprise at Jens’s defense, but she squeezes his arm gratefully. “You seem very mature, Jens. It’s nice to see.”

Jens lets his expression turn joking. “You should tell my parents that.” She huffs a small laugh and Jens adds, “It’s true, though. He gets moody sometimes and it does upset him but he’d never blame you for it. He loves you a lot.”

“I love him, too. It’s nice to know someone else is there to show him love when I can’t be. It’s nice to know he has you.”

Jens ducks his head, feeling unusually bashful. “I’m not sure I help much. I usually just kinda...sit with him.”

“Sometimes being there is the most you can do. The best thing you can do. I’m sure he appreciates it more than you think. I wish that I had been there more. That I’d _seen_. That I wasn’t surprised when he told me about you.”

Jens is pretty sure Lucas had done his best to avoid just that. He’d worked to hide himself for years, from everyone, before Jens. Jens had never really tried to hide, but he’d never done anything with his attraction to guys either. Maybe that’s why everyone around him had been surprised, too. His parents, his sisters, even Robbe. 

The only one who hadn’t been surprised by Jens’s new boyfriend was Sander, but Jens suspects that’s because he wasn’t as blinded by familiarity, by closeness. Sander didn’t find such things unusualーhe takes them in stride. Jens gets that everyone isn’t like that, that most people are the opposite. There’s no way Julia could have known if Lucas didn’t want her too. There’s no way she could’ve had any more insight than anyone else. Jens supposes it’s just something mothers feel responsible for, anyway. 

“I think Lucas knew you were going to be surprised. He was just hoping it wouldn’t be bad.”

“He’s my baby. I love him more than anything. Nothing could ever change that. Especially not something that brings him such happiness. And I can already tell you that you do. He’s been happier than ever over the past few months, and now that I’ve seen him with you, it’s clear that you’re the reason. Just,” she moves her hand from his arm, taking his in both of her own. “Thank you, Jens.”

Jens doesn’t feel like he has anything to be thanked for. Loving Lucas is easier than breathing. He doesn’t need any praise for it.

Still, it makes his chest swell and cocoons his heart in a pleasant warmth. This is more than approval; she’s entirely grateful. Jens couldn’t have asked for anything better. It’s more than he ever expected, and it’s a relief. Not just for him, but for Lucas, for the two of them together. 

He cups her hands and gives her another smile. “There’s nothing to thank me for. I’m the lucky one here. And I’m here if you need me, too. For whatever. It’s the least I can do, considering you gave me Luc,” he jokes. 

She laughs a little more this time and pats his hands. “I’ll remember you said that. You might regret it. Maybe I should get you to write it down. Sign it.”

Jens joins in her laughter as Lucas returns, unexpectedly calm after his phone call and eyeing them suspiciously even as he begins to smile. “What were you two talking about?” he asks as he sits back down.

“You, of course,” Jens shrugs. “Our favourite thing in common.” Lucas grins, and Jens can’t resist leaning over to kiss his cheek. 

He blushes instantly, and Julia smiles widely at him, nodding at his phone. “Everything go okay? You managed more than two minutes.” 

Lucas purses his lips and nods. “It wasn’t as bad as I thought. He wants to meet for lunch on Sunday.”

Jens raises a brow. “And are you going?” He’s supposed to be there until then, and he’ll be disappointed if he has to leave early, but he’ll be happy for Lucas.

“I told him I’d do dinner. After you go.”

“I could’ve come with you.”

Lucas gives him a look, leaning back in the chair and stretching his arms out. “Maybe we’ll leave that one until next time.”

Jens simply nods and smiles at him. He hopes there’ll be plenty of next times.


End file.
